Developers in the open source community and others may use patents pledged to the Patent Commons in reliance on the pledges and covenants made ("Commitments"), provided they adhere to the terms and conditions of the relevant Commitments. The following guidelines provide a starting point for developers and others interested in using the Patent Commons. An example of one possible use of a pledged patent is described in Appendix A.

Because each of the Commitments associated with contributed patents vary, a developer should read and understand terms of these pledges prior to implementing the technology disclosed in the particular patent covered by a pledge.